Tory Loses a Vote

The following is a letter sent by the highly accomplished Tamara Bernstein to mayoral candidate John Tory. As the letter shows, Ms Bernstein, artistic director of Summer Music in the Garden, the free concerts at the Toronto Music Garden, draws her conclusion from experience.

Mr. Tory, you have lost my vote.

I was planning to vote for you as the most likely person to wipe out the TwinFords, but now that you have accepted the endorsement of Lisa Raitt, I cannot do so.

I believe that Toronto’s waterfront belongs to all Torontonians. I believe in the clean, green waterfront promised long ago, it seems, by three levels of government. This vision is incompatible with the sharp escalation of toxic industrial use over which Ms. Raitt presided when she was CEO of the Toronto Port Authority, and allowed massive expansion of the use of the Toronto Island Airport – an expansion that, should you become mayor, you would be pressured to continue (by Robert Deluce, and possibly Ms. Raitt herself, now as Federal Transport Minister).

Also, when Ms. Raitt was CEO of the Toronto Port Authority, I personally witnessed the contempt that she and her Board of Directors showed for the public’s concerns at AGMs of the Toronto Port Authority, as well as their disregard for ongoing concerns regarding pollution (chemical and noise) from the airport from residents and those who simply want to enjoy Toronto’s Waterfront.

If this is what you admire in politicians, it is reasonable to predict that this is what your own governing style would be should you be elected on a wave of “Get Rid of the Fords At All Costs” voter sentiment.